the [anywhere] kingdom of God

i said it before and i will say it again...my heart is for the men living here...to raise them up into leaders for this community...leaders for the kingdom.  and God has provided men to do this with...zimbabwean men.

and while i am so thankful for this and these men have been taking incredible strides to learning this idea of simple church, this idea of community, and living lives that clearly emulate that the kingdom of God is indeed now.  but...

i have been fairly discouraged that there have not been any...and i mean any interactions with south african men.  it seemed as if there was a general disinterest in even carrying on a friendly conversation by any of these men...they just simply shut down...put up a wall...bam...end of conversation...goodbye.

and so i began praying that God would bring forth south african men who were men of peace (Luke 10:5-7 - will write on this later) and who were at least a little bit interested in even talking with me.  you see...it's great that our zim friends are so excited about loving the lost and bringing the gospel to the nations...but its just that...they will be leaving when things in zimbabwe are sorted out.  they will leave to go back to their homes...bringing with them the message of the gospel which they have learned...

and this is a good thing...

but that will leave masi with very few who know the same as these men...

and so i have been praying...a lot.

and God has answered my prayer...through a broken petrol gauge in Michelle and my yellow beetle we loving call "the colonel."  that's right, we never really know how much petrol we have left...life's an adventure here in every way...but i digress.

so one day, i was driving past the petrol station and at that moment...ran out of gas. so i walked to the station and a tall south african with kindness in his eyes and voice immediately asked me where my car was...which to this i sheepishly pointed down the road.  so without a second thought, he helped me push the colonel back to the station.  he filled the tank and told me to be careful.

the next time i came to fill up at that station, he came to the car...just to talk.  i found out that his name was walter and he lived in masi...and he had seen me walking around there and wondered what i was doing there...

this is when it gets good...

i told him that i was there to talk about jesus...to invite others to talk about him with me and to learn what it means to follow him.  assuming that the conversation would stop there...i asked him a question. but before i could get it out completely, he asked if i would come to his home and talk. 

the following thursday, jonathan and i went to his home...which is in a part of masi i had never been in...to chat with him.  while i was talking with walter, jonathan began talking with walter's neighbor...called tsepan.  without knowing it...we both asked these south african men if they wanted to join us to talk and learn about jesus...and they both answered immediately...

YES!

so we have been meeting with them regularly now...with an elderly man named joseph and his family.  we have been talking about jesus...listening to the stories of these men and women...and encouraging one another. 

and just yesterday...walter shared with us about how before we met him...he refused to go to church. his fiance tried and tried to get him to come but he always said he was not ready...he didn't trust the people in church.  but he shared with us yesterday how his heart has changed...how the Spirit is changing his heart...

he said:

since i met you guys...i am excited to read...to pray...to learn about God.  i don't have to wait until sunday to talk about God when i want to do it on sunday.  lately i can't seem to get enough of it.  i used to wake up and just wonder what i was going to to all day. now i know what i can do.  and i know you will come by and we can talk more...and if you don't...i can still go and visit joseph and talk with him.  we need to find more people to tell. 

and guess what...

he went back to Joseph's house today and talked about Jesus with him and helped around the house...without us.

and his fiance really can't believe her eyes.  and she smiles all the time now because of how walter now can't seem to get enough of his jesus.

and we will continue to meet together and pray for more south african men to join us.  

south african men of peace...

...like walter

who was caught when the kingdom of God broke forth at the petrol station of all places...

pretty cool, huh?